


The Status of the Team

by Yrindor



Series: Sports Anime Shipping Olympics 2016 Fills [71]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Gen, Magical Realism, Prompt Fic, Remix, SASO 2016
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-19
Updated: 2016-08-19
Packaged: 2018-08-09 19:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7814977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yrindor/pseuds/Yrindor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even after he leaves, Nijimura continues to check in on the team.  Akashi is never sure how to respond.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Status of the Team

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [SASO 2016 BR4 Akashi/Nijimura Drawing](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/222631) by winterstuck. 



> Written for Sports Anime Shipping Olympics 2016 Bonus Round 6: Remixes. Also fills the "trapped in a dream" square for Trope Bingo round 7.

At night, Akashi dreamed of Nijimura. It was always the same dream, or maybe it was a memory. At some point the two had started to bleed together until it was hard to tell them apart anymore.

The memory was of the day Nijimura asked to speak to him after practice, and then told him he was leaving for America and passing on the captaincy. He had watched Nijimura walk away that day, that much he remembered. And he had taken over the basketball club in Nijimura's stead, but he hadn't been able to nurture it the way Nijimura had.

The dreams didn't start until later, until around the time the team first began to splinter. It was always the same dream, Nijimura standing before him and asking after the state of the team. He was never sure how to answer, but he always knew his answer wasn't correct.

"We won again," he said every night for years, but every night, Nijimura would just look at him sadly and ask again, "How's the team?"

Looking back at it several years later, there was so much more he could have said, perhaps should have said. "Aomine's drifting away again, and I don't know how to bring him back," maybe, or "everyone's playing for themselves, and it doesn't feel like a team anymore," but none of those had occurred to him at the time. Not when all he could think about was winning.

Initially, the dreams had irritated him, disrupting his usual night's sleep and leaving him feeling unsettled in the morning. Once he found himself a prisoner of his own mind though, he started looking forward to them. He spent his days locked away inside his consciousness as his other side carried his body through the world; his only communication being the times Bokushi felt the need to come back and belittle him and his weaknesses.

Every night though, Nijimura appeared before him and asked about the team. It was a break from the monotony, even if he was never sure if Nijimura was a dream, or a memory, or a figment of his own imagination. And every night, when he answered, he felt like he wasn't answering the right question.

It wasn't until his first year of high school that he finally understood the question. "I want them to be better, but I don't know how to lead them," Akashi finally admitted. "I couldn't lead Teiko the way you had. How do I do better with Rakuzan?"

Nijimura smiled, the same sad but gentle smile Akashi remembered from so many years before. "Trust them," Nijimura said. "Trust yourself, and don't be afraid to learn from your mistakes."

That was the last time he dreamed of Nijimura, and the next day was the first time he no longer felt so trapped in his own mind. For the first time since he had fled, he felt like he could take back control of himself from Bokushi if he wished.

He saw Nijimura in the stands during the final game of the Winter Cup, and he sought him out after the match.

He wasn't sure what to say at first, but when Nijimura asked "How's the team?" it was his chance to say "They're doing well. Thank you."

"I knew you'd figure it out eventually," Nijimura replied. Then, he turned and left.

Akashi tried to follow, but the departing spectators came between him and his old captain, and by the time he broke free, Nijimura was nowhere in sight.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, comments and feedback are welcome and appreciated.


End file.
